slow motion smile
by fall from stars
Summary: ONESHOT—There are few things pure in this world anymore, and home is one of the few. [Kaiora]


**A/N:** So this little thing's for Remi, because she's my girl who's brought me back to Sora/Kairi, my original KH Trinity OTP, back from the world of Sora/Riku. Which I technically still believe in and all, and I swear they go together—I'm not saying that in any fanbrat sort of way. I'm just at a happy medium between the two pairings now. They can co-exist. It's not one or the other. I can do both of them. There's no need for separation. :D

So this little thing was inspired by the nicer phrases of Rufus Wainwright's "Foolish Love," which I technically took and Disneyified by taking the sweet parts he didn't want to do and making Sora want them. This one-shot was also influenced also by OAR's very touching "I Feel Home," which makes me all happy and want to curl up with my _familia_ and play the guitar and sing songs off-key and sappy stuff like that. Much love to my dear Miss Mary, who set me up with them in the first place.

So sit back and enjoy! And reviews make me smile, especially constructive criticism.

_For Remi, who I blame my return to this pairing on, because she_'_s my go-to girl for  
video games, character development, and ripping up bad research papers.  
This is all her fault, and I love her for it._

**There are few things pure in this world anymore,  
****And home is one of the few.  
****--  
****OAR  
****I Feel Home**

**SLOW MOTION SMILE.**

Sora isn't able to break away from the familiar faces of home once he's really back, once it's not a dream anymore. His first days home in two years pass in a blur, like the best days of summer vacation—or for that matter, any day when he wasn't forced in school to actually learn something.

He spends so much time holding people's hands he wonders, in an embarrassed way, if he has sweaty palms.

He's getting so many gifts it's hard to keep track of everything, and eventually Kairi has to step in and offer her organizational skills, making sure all the thank-you notes are sent away properly through the post.

He's suddenly in the center of everyone's attention, boys and girls alike who come up to him and ask questions he's answered a thousand times before. _Sora, where'd you go? Why didn't you come home? We missed you, yeah, we really did. What happened to you, dude? Hey, what's up with Riku and Kairi? They were with you, weren't they? Hey, man, where'd you get those clothes?_

And he almost loses his voice telling everyone about his adventures, while Riku and Kairi only nod or smile or sometimes take over when he's desperately downing some water.

And everyone holds him close, either awkwardly from people he didn't know too well before, hysterically like Selphie and Kairi, or wordlessly like Riku and Tidus and even Wakka.

The six of them all see the King, his knight, and his mage off after promises are made to write letters in bottles and send them across seas. They tell each other not to worry, the sun sinking into their skin and their eyes glazed over with tears of both joy and sadness, a complex emotion.

"Those letters will make it. I know they will," says Kairi with a secret smile reserved just for Sora. He captures it, stores it somewhere in his memories.

And they all sit together on the beach, hand-in-hand, bright smiles on their faces as they see their friends off. And they are all feeling real and feeling alive, feeling happy and feeling _home_.

†

But eventually, as all tides do, the tides of hugs and questions and story-telling and thank-you notes fade away as Sora settles back into his place. Soon people start to take his presence for granted again instead of looking at an empty desk or an empty spot on the beach or an empty space next to Kairi and wondering who used to sit there.

People remember that he knows a lot of people—even knows people that aren't supposed to really exist. He's asked to give letters to Santa Claus on a reindeer express by the little kids, urged to try out for the musical by some of the drama boys and girls, urged to keep up his academic journey by concerned teachers.

People remember that he's a hero—technically, he's the greatest hero of them all. The "can you save my dog sometime, Sora?" jokes rise away with the jungle heat after a while. They're easily replaced with the same old chummy teasing about the same old chummy subject: whether or not he's gotten a move on and kissed Kairi yet.

That's when Sora knows that he's home and that it's real, from the sand to the sea to the blush that stains his cheeks when people ask him that same kissing Kairi question.

†

On the last day of summer vacation, Sora makes sure the other four are distracted before he takes Kairi to the secret place, where they can hide in the warm shadows the cave offers them. They talk to each other for what seems like years, mourning their loss of the nonexistent mornings, lazy afternoons and long nights.

After some planning, they stage a funeral where they share epitaphs and say prayers over an old, faded doll of Kairi's adorned with thassala shells. Kairi even finds a black strip of sail fabric which she splits in two, making a short widow's veil for herself and a loose bow tie for Sora. She later tells him that the doll had a name, which they say in quiet, reverent voices—Natsumi.

After they've run out of things to talk about, in an embarrassed, accidental matter, they finally find their childhood drawings, trying to look away from the paopus brushing their chalky lips. They are quiet for a long time, each lost in the feelings they're trying to say to the other.

It's Sora who finally breaks the silence, clears his throat and says he has something for her. She leans in a little closer, her fingers splayed across the short pink fabric of her skirt. He opens one of the red pouches resting on his leg, pulling out a star-shaped something and offering it to Kairi. She has nothing to offer but a quiet "oh" and looks up at him, hope resting in her eyes.

"I guess—I mean—Kairi, we can do this if you really want to," he says awkwardly, trying to look at anything but her. She leans forward even closer, her necklace suspended high above the ground. Her hand curls around his shoulder, spreading warmth where she's touched him.

"Of course I want it," she says with a gentle smile. "I always have." She nods in understanding, indicating that he should take his bite first. He does, and it tastes strange and sour at first, as unexpected as a handful of sand in his mouth. But the taste starts to change even as he makes a small grimace, like a sweet drop of candy melting on his tongue. He offers the fruit to Kairi, who is looking away at their drawings.

"You knew, didn't you?" she says in a quiet voice, looking at him with the same simple wonder. "You came and saw this when you came back."

"I wanted to make sure that home was all here," he says brightly, smiling at her in such a way that she just has to smile back. "I wanted to see that it was real…"

He places the starfruit in her palm, curling her fingers around it tightly, protecting it with his hands too.

"…and that this is real," he whispers, so softly that she can hardly hear him.

She swallows her nervousness, lets it sink down somewhere in her stomach. Her cheeks feel hot, like they're about to catch fire, but she still takes her bite, a miniscule mark in the fruit. She turns her face back to him to ask a question, but then his lips are suddenly on hers and she completely forgets whatever she's worrying about.

She leans in again and he leans back, his hand splayed out against her arm and her hands folding behind his shoulders. They come as close as they can, pulling and holding onto each other while the sun shines above them. The rest of the world seems to fall away while they twist, tight and together like corkscrews, hands on shoulders and hips, eyes closing while they drink in the rising sweetness.

†

Later the six of them all come together, a tangle of long suntanned limbs and unrestrained smiles and laughs that will be confined into uniforms early tomorrow morning, when their bodies will relearn the "early to bed, early to rise" mantra; when they'll be in the same physics and astronomy classes; when they'll all be seniors on the verge of something amazing and unique in their lives.

They all watch the twilight dye the town purple and red and yellow, their legs dangling off the dock of their childhood kingdom. Secrets are spilled and laughs are shared by everyone until Selphie and Kairi, ever-responsible to make up for the forgetful boys, remind them that there's school tomorrow, even though none of them want to remember it. They all pile into their boats without care, cramped for space and rowing themselves off-center while they compromise their control.

At the mainland they all sling boats over their weathered shoulders after saying their goodbyes, some with kisses on the cheek, all with long, tight hugs. Nobody can seem to find where Sora and Kairi slipped off to. Until Selphie's sharp green eyes spy them in a bush, holding each other close, their lips both smiling in some secret, shared slow motion.

They won't hear the end of it. And though the others may tease and laugh and make marriage jokes like they're all fourteen again, there's some comfort in being taller and older and wiser, but mostly the way they were three years ago. There's a very happy feeling to even the smallest motions, like the way Tidus and Wakka seem to think alike or how Selphie and Kairi's handwriting is markedly similar or how Riku and Sora continue to spar even though there's nothing bad between them anymore.

Every piece of home is good and intact. Nothing's shattered or ruined and everything's the way it should be—_Nothing's changed, has it? Nope, nothing will. _

And Sora's expecting to wake up at any moment, but when the alarm goes off the next morning and he retreats from his dreams with fussy hair and eyes slurred by sleep, he knows that home's a good dream he'll never wake up from.

And that's just how he feels—he feels good, better than anything else he's ever felt. Because maybe in all the darkness he forgot how pure good things are. But now he knows there are few things pure in this world anymore, and home is one of the few, and he holds it closer to his heart all because of that.

**FIN. **

**A/N:** wOOt for sappy fluff! Lemme tell you, it feels really good to write something happy and not full of Angst and Woe and Loss and Despair for once. Tell me what you thought? It's been a while since I wrote Sora/Kairi, and I don't expect characterization of these two to be perfect—and I can only imagine what I did to anyone else. I haven't played the original KH in so long since it's on loan to my brother's friend who really should give it back. Anyway!

Any feedback you've got would be wonderful. Thank you!

Lots of love from the self-proclaimed Matinee Idol


End file.
